# Atlanta (2016)

> Two cousins chase a foothold in the Atlanta hip-hop scene to lift their families out of struggle, in a drifting, absurdist comedy-drama.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/57846

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 41
- Episode runtime: 26 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Donald Glover
- Network: FX
- Cast: Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, LaKeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz, Aaron Tyler, Candace B. Harris, Keena Ferguson, Katt Williams
- TMDB rating: 8.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4288182/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: meditative, relaxed, absurdist, wry, dramatic, uneven

## What critics say

Acclaimed for its sharp, offbeat blend of comedy and drama that captures everyday life in the Atlanta music scene with a distinctive, meditative tone.

## Synopsis

Atlanta (2016-2022) is an FX comedy-drama series created by Donald Glover, a four-season show with ten to eleven episodes per season and a single run that has ended. Donald Glover plays Earnest "Earn" Marks, a Princeton dropout drifting between jobs, who becomes manager to his cousin Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), a rapper trying to turn local buzz into a career. LaKeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz round out the principal cast as Darius and Van, whose lives orbit the pair. The engine is survival: Earn wants to lift his family out of money trouble, Paper Boi wants his music to matter, and every episode moves through encounters with dealers, club promoters, relatives and strangers who pull them sideways. Rather than building toward a single plot, the series unfolds as loose, meditative vignettes that shift without warning into surreal, sharp social satire. Set in contemporary Atlanta's hip-hop scene, it has a languid, wry and sometimes unsettling mood. Fans of Insecure, Baskets and Barry will find resonance in its blend of comedy, bleak realism and character drift.

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